Elgin Mayor Criticizes City Councilman For Harvard Trip

ELGIN, IL — Elgin Mayor David Kaptain is criticizing a councilman's decision to attend a Harvard University program that cost the city $6,015, according to reports.

Councilman Rich Dunne flew into Boston for the event in June, a program on senior executives and local government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, according to the Daily Herald. They reported the cost of the program as $5,700, and that Dunne spent $315 on airfare. The program cost came at a 55 percent discount.

City Manager Rick Kozal approved Dunne's request to attend the program, the Herald reported, but Kaptain said the city should only pay for employees to attend similar programs, not council members.

"I was pretty upset with Rick and the whole thing at the time, but the horse had already left the barn, so to speak," Kaptain said. He called such programs "long-term" investments, not a tool to "help somebody's political career," according to the Herald.

According to the Harvard website, the class, entitled Senior Executives in State and Local Government, costs $16,100 to attend.

Dunne was not the first one from Elgin to attend the program. Police Chief Jeff Swoboda did in 2016 and Sean Stegall, assistant city manager at the time, did so in 2008, the Herald reported. Swoboda's tuition for the program was $12,400.

"Senior executives in state and local governments face greater demands from a skeptical public today than at any time in recent decades. Across the country, revenues have fallen sharply, the need for services has spiked and trust in government has plummeted," the Harvard website says. "To exercise effective leadership in this difficult environment, officials in government and nonprofit organizations need knowledge and skills to develop creative solutions under tight constraints and increased public scrutiny."

The Herald reported city spokeswoman Molly Center as saying the city budget includes $4,000 annually for such training of city council members, but the amount was raised in 2017 to $5,800 to cover Dunne's training at Harvard.

Article image via Shutterstock